The cooperative

Cooperativa Cafetalera Capucas Ltda (COCAFCAL) is a coffee-producing cooperative selling organic coffee on the national and international market.

In 1885, Atanacio Rodolfo Romero bought large parts of the Capucas region and began growing coffee for his private consumption. Seventy-five years later, the area is still in use by the Romero family: Romero’s son and namesake travelled to Costa Rica to learn how to grow high-quality coffee on the family’s estate. From his travels he brought back 100 pounds of seed of the coffee variety Caturra, which has smaller but more productive trees than regular coffee. He created a coffee nursery and started planting the Caturra variety.

Initially his neighbours thought he was mad, yet were amazed when they saw the quality of his harvest. Atanacio shared his knowledge of the variety, which became the precursor for this and other types of high-quality coffee in Honduras.

COCAFCAL also offers wet milling and drying services to its members, help in compliance with certification schemes, and agricultural training. It has also created a laboratory for research into coffee diseases such as coffee leaf rust.